If you're a foregneir in UK...

[CrocoShriek]

...what are the things you love and hate about living here?
I'll start (apologies, it's a bit England-centric)
Love:
-the countryside
-Sunday roasts
-London's melting pot
-low expectations on being fashionable ( I think!)

Hate:
-sticky Pub floors
-lack of proper blue sky in winter
-obsession with cards...thank you/ xmas/birthday etc.

Love
London culture, concerts, galleries
Restaurants, nowhere in the world you can get so many authentic cuisines in one place
London parks and green spaces
Beautiful architecture
Animal friendliness
Good quality of food for a good price and great supermarkets.

Hate
Social climbing culture
Very money minded culture, both in terms of own money and also wanting to find out about others' income and expenses.

The country being very flat, no proper mountains or ski opportunities
The class system: the huge obsession with class and at the same time the denial of it. Calling people "common", sycophantic worship of the upper classes, stately homes, what the upper classes do, country piles etc
Ignorance and whitewashing of the atrocities of the empire
Being very two-faced and not saying what they mean. Fake friendliness and suffering and fuming in silence

@Labraradabrador @whatadoodledo
What things do people say that they don't mean/need translating? Can you give some examples?

And the passive-aggressive smart-arses on social media ?

A couple more
Love:
acceptance of foreigners
UK is very advanced in terms of social justice and lack of tolerance for racism, sexism, homophobia etc. It might not look this way when you live here, but compared to other countries it ranks really high
less beaurocracy

Hate
Brexit
driving on the left side

RE: GOV UK website, if it was up to me, they’d all be knighted for designing that website.

I used to work in an office where my ideas were often rejected by a certain manager, who would calmly say: “With all due respect”… before rejecting my inputs. I always smiled and said I appreciate the consideration.

Years later, I found out that “with all due respect” was known to be a euphemism for ‘I think you’re an idiot’. An Indian colleague and I were unaware of this and it had become an inside joke among the team how we would smile happily and accept the fact we were idiots. It really changed my outlook on understanding The difference between what people say and what they actually mean.

Like:

Putting the kettle on - literally and metaphorically
Good strong tea
Appreciation of gardens in all sizes, shapes and forms
Creative industries, particularly British TV and film
Sense of humour that is quite unique
Commitment to animal welfare
Pioneering in vegetarianism/veganism
The countryside and its variety
Less sexist than every other country I have lived in/visited

Dislike:

General drabness of houses, streets, cities and architecture
Healthcare system - no interest in preventive medicine, woefully inadequate and making patients guilty for using it
Wasteful target and monitoring work culture that never seems to improve anything
Obsession with risk assessment and health and safety
Hiding behind 'processes and procedures' that often seem inadequate in tackling actual problems and deflect personal responsibility
Strongly individualistic culture (not necessarily bad) and little sense of community and shared sense of purpose
Dominance of chain shops
Brexit and the collapse of infrastructure in the past decade
Mud, mud, mud from November to April (never had wellies before moving to the UK)

Love:

1. weather
2. the diversity and tolerance
3. the period housing stock- there is something so romantic about living in a 1930s flat
4. the history
5. the fact that most people believe in public services and don't think the poor deserve to be left to the whims of the free market (maybe i am generalizing but I haven't even met many Tories like that); having spent a week with my American BIL, i am completely appreciative of that
6. London
7. the history
8. British humour
9. love of the countryside/animals/desire to protect nature
10. How vocal local communities are against fighting injustice- people are very civic minded- it brings tears to my eyes sometimes.
11. overall beauty of the country
12. lots of day trip options from London
13. People are less materialistic- some people can be quite competitive about their careers/houses/extensions but overall no one seems to care what clothes you wear or what kind of car your drive or how 'successful' you are.

Hates:

1. class system
2. Brexit
3. no big three or 4 bedroom flats even in the cities (not everyone wants a suburban house with garden to start a family!)
4. Very expensive childcare
5. high poverty rate/crumbling welfare system but yet lack of close-knit family ties (i have a friend who is mentally ill/homeless but yet her father thinks its the responsibility of the state and her friends to help her; but the problem is there is no spaces in assisted living for her and the NHS mental healthcare system is broken)
6. healthcare
7. Tories (though to be fair right wing politicians in many countries aren't much better)

A helpful guide.

@MisssHavisham I absolutely agree about Christianity thing. I worked shifts and asked my manager can I have my lunch time at the weekend moved, so I can go to church, he laughed. I pointed out that Muslim colleagues are allowed to move their lunch break, so they can practise the fast ( it was spring time and Radaman). He said he’ll think about it. Nothing came out of it and I moved to other team shortly afterwards. This is one thing I hate in UK. You’ve got full freedom of your religion, as long as it’s not Christianity.

I'm British but married to a foreigner

Love
London for its buzz, museums and galleries, theatres, work opportunities, diversity of people and how welcoming it is to new people and ideas, variety of amazing restaurants and bars, the music and nightlife, all it's beautiful parks and range of transport options around the city
The self deprecating humour
Politeness
The BBC both TV and radio (radio 4, radio 6, some brilliant TV dramas)
That we have so much coast line for access to beaches or great coastal towns cities and towns like Bristol, Brighton and Margate

Proximity to Europe for holidays

How we celebrate creativity and eccentricity
How online we have become and how easy it is to conduct life using the internet (some countries are really lagging behind on this regard)
The concept of the NHS
The vast array of historical buildings
Our educational clout and brilliant world class universities such as Oxbridge , UCL, Bristol, Edinburgh.
That's it's possible to start a business or change career with relative ease

Dislike

Cost of living (especially hosting and childcare)
The royal family
Our current political situation
How overcrowded things can feel at times especially the roads in the south east
The state of the NHS
Brexit (hate this!) what a mess
The growing gap between rich and poor
Classism
Passive aggressive communication
The yob/binge drinking culture
Mean minded parochial mentality and the racism and sexism that comes with it (and how this lead to the disaster that is Brexit)
And def agree about the cards they are such a waste of time!

Love: the greenery and playgrounds,no corruption,burocracy is easy

Hate: NHS is crap, GP in particular. Emergency services have no sense of emergency. People at hospital,doctors,shops going around with a cuppa as they"work"
Superficials friendships
Endless grey weather for 9 months of the year,
Food is crap unless you pay £££
Apart from the older generation no family values
Classist society
Children's are kept separate from normal life(only allowed in child friendly place)
Ridiculous early school start
Ditto on ridiculous kids bedtimes, then everyone complains that young kids wake up so early...well they go to sleep at 6/7 ,they are not going to sleep in the morning are they
Ditto again on "tea" being in the afternoon, then all after-school clubs happens at what's for us dinner time(7/8 pm)
A general blind attitude to rule following without thinking
The obsession to queue for everything( eh service station toilet,a lot of empty cubicles but all queueing instead than check. Then they gave bad looks when I went in one of the open ones rather than queue like a cucumber)

Also hate our spiteful right wing tabloid media

Example being: "I need you to work faster" would be expressed as "there is not an optimal level of work occurring in this team and some members may want to consider that".

Love:

• the culture and history
• being able to travel around Europe so quickly and cheaply
• being able to walk to my local town and yet not live somewhere super busy
• TV shows, no one does comedy like the British

Hate:

• the clocks changing, my body doesn't get it
• the darkness in winter and yes, the light in summer, my body also doesn't get this, it's very confusing for my internal clock
• Brexit, why, just why, such a shame

@purpleme12 as other posters mention, the British speak obliquely in order to avoid rudeness. You can’t take their words at face value, you have to understand the subtext of cultural norms and expectations, which I don’t fully understand in nuanced situations even after 10+ years. A real life example for me was my first work place review where I received the feedback that I was too aggressive in how I articulated opinions. I laughed because for 5 years previous (when in the US) I consistently received feedback that I wasn’t assertive enough.

People also don’t ask anything directly- lots of circular discussion with the expectation that you take the hint. But I don’t understand the hint, and I think people are constantly annoyed with me (but never would say so directly so not really sure). There’s a great book called ‘watching the English’ that I recommend to expat friends who move to the UK. It was a fun read for my English husband as well. It breaks down English culture from a social anthropology perspective.

I lived in the UK for 2 years
I loved:
How cheap things were compared to Ireland
The range of shops on the high street
The NHS where I was , was fabulous.

The amount of clubs , activities and groups that were available for every age group
I hated :
My number one hate was the anti Irish sentiment that I experienced. It was awful being accused of being a terrorist while I was just trying to do my Job.
How rough it was , kids in gangs and the knowledge that the police are so under resourced that they wouldn't always come when called.
The standard of rental accommodation, my god it was shocking, damp , mouldy houses with carpets that were ancient and worn. They were always so cold as well.
Over all I liked living in the UK and sometimes I miss it but it was fat too rough for me , I wanted to raise my child in a place that was safe.

@Marmitepot i am terrified by tea. In particular making British people tea. If it were me I would just plonk the bag and water and never take it out, I have no idea what ‘two’ sugars means (or worse yet if they say ‘sweet’) and can never remember if milk goes in first or last. I am secretly grateful anytime a guest asks for coffee instead.

Love:

How lovely and friendly people are - huge difference to my home country
Indian food
How diverse and exciting London is
Flexible and inclusive job market - all based on your skills, no photo or DoB on a CV

Hate:

Nationalism, glorifying military
The politics - why are there always such self-seeking, back-stabbing clowns in the government
The kind of arrogance that showed itself in the whole brexit process
No public transport on xmas day

@Labraradabrador also,everyone makes it differently!
It can be stressful if making multiple teas and coffees and everyone takes it differently (like workmen). I usually write it down!

To complicate matters if you’re making tea in a tea pot then I think the milk goes in first but if making it straight into a mug then milk after.
This is because the tea won’t brew well unless in extremely hot water.

Oh yes - housing quality another downside! Small houses, often no wallpaper or curtains, no proper insulation, No basements

I was with the in-laws in Michigan for Christmas and I stupidly asked for a cup of tea when DH’s aunt offered us beverages. The singing! The dancing! A medley of herbal and flavoured teabags were paraded in front of me, the merits over apple caramel spice or lemon hibiscus extolled, the lump sugar was retrieved from the back of a cupboard and emptied into a teapot, and aunt made the tea with a terrified look on her face and all the precision of a heart surgeon, before handing over a teacup with profuse apologies that it was probably made too dark, too milky, and all wrong.

You are not alone in fearing the tea.

Love

• the variety of food (because english cuisine is generally poor, we have everything here.). Where I come from the national cuisine is fabulous and delicious, but you cannot get anything good that’s “foreign” - no pad Thai, ramen, tacos etc
• people here are generally very fair and inclusive
• we have free speech - we can criticise the government without fear of being put in prison
• Beautiful countryside and huge variety of landscapes- from the chocolate box villages to the wild Scottish highlands

things I find bewildering

• the semi religious devotion to a clearly broken NHS and the BBC
• the way English people describe very moderate food as “naughty” and make a huge fuss about having a chocolate hob nob
• the low academic standards and expectations in schools, and the lack of emphasis on important skilled roles such as doctors and engineers

This really is fascinating reading. I am British but left 15 years ago so agree with so much of what you all write. Especially the damn cards!

I'd like to add a few things to the love list

• illustrations in children's books are beautiful
• cash machines that have so many functions!

Like:
-The arts / creative scene
-British humour
-Shopping - supermarket, online, everywhere
-Being called 'love' or 'dear' by other females (not by males)
-Career and business opportunities

Dislike:
-The class system (who cares if you shop at waitrose or aldi!!)
-The school system - sending dc to school at 4 ...not good
-Lack of cohesive culture and cultural celebrations.. i love the diversity, but it feels like any 'britishness' is viewed as bad, and that's sad for the whole country